Are you frustrated with the inconsistencies in your golf swing? Does your swing feel different every time out and one time you break 80 and the next time you struggle to break 90? We have all been there. Here at golfjourney365, we firmly believe in the importance of a smooth transition in the golf swing.
We have studied different approaches to perfecting the transition and bring to you 7 tips to help your golf swing transition and help propel you to your best season of golf yet. A season of golf where you find your consistency and break through with some of your best scores ever. Stop settling for below average golf scores and take action today.
The golf swing transition just might be the biggest key to success in golf. If you do not have a smooth transition that allows the proper kinematic swing sequence to occur, then it is an uphill battle that requires different compensations during the downswing.
Below we provide our 7 Tips Proven to Help Your Golf Swing Transition.
Tip 1 – Don’t Rush From the Top
Too many golfers want to pull hard from the top. Why? Because it feels powerful and people want to generate speed. This move can often lead to a steep angle of attack and even cause an over the top move that can result in major pulls or slices.
Instead, you want the swing to naturally happen from the top. The best way to practice this natural kinematic sequence is to hit 20-50% shots where the transition flows freely.
Often times, we heard from the golf instructors in the past to pull from the top. I would recommend being patient at the top with the hands and allowing gravity and the swing sequence to set up for a slinging like motion through the zone resulting in speed you may have not experienced prior.
Below is a great video that Be Better Golf produced. It is worth checking out:
Tip 2 – Keep Your Arms Back
The key here is to let the lower body setup the transition by moving first. Think about other athletic motions such as throwing. When a baseball pitcher goes to throw the arm stays back as the front leg drives forward. The pitcher ends up with the throwing arm back and the legs are set (see picture below).
This allows the arms to catapult through the zone and create some speed. Think about the pitcher if he or she were to thrust their arms forward prior to the lower body setting up. They would generate very little arm speed and their ball would come out very slow.
The motion is very similar for a golfer. Towards the end of the backswing, the legs start to drive into the front foot as the feet grab the ground setting up in a position that now allows the body and then the arms to fling through the zone and not require a ton of forearm rotation.
In some of the best swings it appears the arms are still going back as the lower body starts the downswing.
Check out other Athletic Motions to Better Understand Transition
Tip 3 – Consider Other Athletic Motions
Another example is skipping a stone. We have all skipped stones across the river or pond before. The motion occurs without thought of moving your throwing arm forward.
Instead the person skipping the stone moves the arm back, the front leg goes forward and sets, and then the arms slings through the throwing zone and the wrists then unleashes from a set position. The movements are the feet, legs, body, arms and then the hand.
This results in a free flowing motion. We want to be athletes when we golf. Too often we are focusing on positions rather than movements. This just causes great chaos in our swings.
Skipping Stones is A Great Drill
Tip 4 – Focus on the Target
One of youtubes most popular teachers, Shawn Clement, spends a significant amount of time providing great insight on making a natural motion.
He uses many analogies and real life movements to help us with our golf swing transitions. One that has worked for me is a focus on the target out where we want the ball to end up. Too often, our focus becomes the ball and we make the ball the target.
This messes up our sequences because we have the wrong target. Instead, make the natural motion similar to throwing something that we use for other sports and focus on the target. When we are throwing a baseball, we aren’t thinking about what our hand is doing behind our head, instead we are focused on the glove of our teammate that we are throwing the ball to.
If you are playing racquetball you are focused on where your want the ball to hit on the wall. If you are playing tennis you focused on what line you want to hit it down. If you are bowling, you are looking at your arrows on the lanes.
This focus on the target will free you up to make the motion that are bodies and minds are capable of. When we have the wrong target, our transition will mess up and we won’t get the results that we need.
Shawn Clement – One of the Best!
Tip 5 – Watch Your Hips: Check Out George Gankas and The Golf Swing Transition
George Gankas is one of the most popular golf coaches to recently hit the scene nationally. He is someone that teaches the golfers to squat and keep the hands back in transition.
This allows the club to properly shallow and the golfer is able to ensure they are attacking from the right angle and a path that matches up for their golf swing. Gankas is an expert in the transition and can help your game.
Too many of us push forward with our hips. Our hips slide forward and move towards the target, which puts our hands and bodies in a bad position to turn and rotate.
Instead we have to release our angles in our arms and throw away any lag that we might have had. Instead George Gankas teaches us to squat, turn and then let the hands are arms go. Too many of us pull down hard at the top and mess up the transition. This might seem counterproductive for creating speed, but you must try it!
George Gankas on Proper Sequencing
Tip 6 – Try Freezer Golf Drills
The freezer golf drills allow us to make sure everything arrives at the top. Too often we can be quick in the transition and get into a bad position at the top. Our hips race, our legs go and we end up getting stuk behind the ball.
This results in us either blocking it right or flipping our hands. You might be able to play decent golf for a round or two, but the overall consistency will struggle. A key in the transition is to get the arms and the body to match up.
The freezer drills, most famous for when Butch Harmon had Tiger Woods do this drill over and over again during his swing change in the later 1990s, just might be what your need for your game. If you get stuck in your downswing what really caused this was a poor transition.
Freezer Drills and Be Better Golf
Tip 7 – Direct the Momentum
According to Mike Malaska the golf swing is a matter of directing the momentum. His approach actually makes a ton of sense and seems very logical.
His video below dives into detail on how you can best direct the momentum and use your body to offset the forces. The overall motion seems easy and allows the club to work. Once again, a common trait we see in all of these tips is to ensure we are forcing our arms in any direction, but rather allowing the momentum and gravity to work in our swings.
Mike Malaska on Directing the Momentum
Your Turn to Take Action…
Golf can be a difficult game, but we are here to help. We have provided many quality articles on answering many of the frequent areas where golfers struggle. You can have your best season yet this year, but it starts with taking some action.
Here is a link to our online golf instruction posts.
We have provided guides on how to break 100, 90, 80 and 70. Check out more below, if interested.
If you are a senior golfer, I would highly recommend the complete system from an instructor you saw above from A Simple Golf Swing. He provides the only swing completely developed for seniors. His teaching matches up greatly with the approach by Shawn Clement, which in my opinion is the best online golf instructor out there due to the simplistic approach.
For Seniors Golf – Check It Out
You Need To Train
Do you want more speed in your golf swing? I know, don’t we all! You must train for what you want to accomplish. Consider checking out SuperSpeed Golf. Here is a complete review we wrote about our experience with SuperSpeed Golf. It is designed to increase your club head speed by 5-8% as soon as the first time you use the training protocols.
Don’t forget to use Golfjourney365 for a 10% at SuperSpeed Golf.
